


Wounded

by TrishaCollins



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-29
Updated: 2012-09-29
Packaged: 2017-11-15 07:02:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/524476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrishaCollins/pseuds/TrishaCollins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They all dealt with the scars in their own ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wounded

He rinsed his mouth out, spitting into the sink as quietly as he could manage, trying not to wake anyone in the apartment with his late night activities. 

He mopped the last traces of the toothpaste from his face, checking himself in the mirror to make sure his hair was completely dry after his unplanned shower. There was no sense in giving anyone any more cause for worrying about him. They had enough things to worry about. 

He was keeping track, in the three days since they had returned from the island and he had been released into Adel’s care, he had taken twelve showers. The first had been with her, and it barely counted, little more than fumbling beneath the hot water, at loathe to let the other out of sight or reach after everything that had happened but covered in dirt and blood and needing to wash the days away from them. 

The next had been by himself, and he’d stood beneath the hot water until his skin had scalded and turned bright red, scrubbing at his skin until the water ran pink down the drain. Adel had frowned and looked worried. She’d kept her mouth shut, though, and that had made him feel worse.

Adel always said what she was thinking. If he was crazy enough that she didn’t want to call him on it, he was clearly in bad shape. 

After that, he had taken cold showers. Hot showers made steam, and it was easier to hide that he’d slipped out of bed in the middle of the night because he felt dirty if the mirror wasn’t foggy when she woke up.

He stared at the toothbrush, contemplating giving his teeth another scrub in hopes that it might make the cottony feeling fade from his tongue. The toothbrush was starting to look a little abused, when he managed to slip Adel’s guard for long enough to shop, he’d need to pick up a couple more. 

He turned his head towards the door, toothbrush forgotten at the sound of a quiet whimper from the bedroom he’d left. 

She’d never been a screamer. Enma shouted in his sleep, had used to scare the crap out of him when he crashed on their couch, but Adel was quiet.

As though she barely dared to make a sound. 

He dropped the towel to the counter, not bothering to hit the light as he returned to the bedroom. He didn’t say her name or speak up, the first night back he’d tried that and she’d nearly concussed herself on the side table at the sound of his voice. 

When the voice in her nightmares matched the voice of the person trying to soothe her, it never worked out very well.

He caught her shoulders, giving her a gentle shake. 

Her eyes flew open and she flinched back before her brain caught up with her eyes.

He tried to hide the grimace.

She threw her arms around his neck a second later, pulling him into an awkward lean over her.

He let her, not protesting, arms sliding around her shoulder to support her body. 

“Shhh, it’s ok. Just a nightmare.” 

Her arms tightened, body wordlessly pressed against his. 

He could feel the occasional bandage beneath his arms, covering the spots where the Vindice had put needles.

He and Enma had their own marks, but the others all shared these. 

Just another nightmare to add to the pile, another night terror to wake them all in the early hours of the morning. 

“You smell like toothpaste.” 

He smiled, rubbing her shoulder. “I brushed my teeth.”

“At three in the morning?”

He glanced at the clock. “Closer to four, now.”

She sighed, relaxing her arms a little to look at him. 

“My mouth tasted weird.” The words were a little more defensive than he’d wanted them to be.

She frowned and he looked away, unable to argue with the worry in her eyes.

It was easier when she was angry at him. He hated making her worry. 

“Julie…”

“It’s fine. I feel much better now.” The light from the window caught on the side of her face, briefly illuminating the faint bruises on her chin.

He couldn’t conceal the wince, unable to help remembering the brief moment of consciousness, his hand vice like on her face.

_She’s becoming bothersome, I should just snap her neck._

They were hardly her worst injury. She had quite a few, Hibari hadn’t been gentle and the Vindice certainly hadn’t been trying to make it a resort stay. 

But that was the one injury he felt personally responsible for. 

She kissed him so suddenly he nearly went over the side of the bed, body locking up in startled terror before he managed to make some effort at returning it. It still felt forced, and he knew she could tell, but he was trying. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to hide in bed with her for a few days and not bother to leave until they both felt sated and exhausted in the best possible way.

But there was a part of him that was still terrified this was just another game, that the moment his guard slipped Spade would be back and taunting him for his inattentiveness. 

And Adel would get hurt again. 

“Stop it.” The words were soft, and he covered another wince with a smile. 

“Can I get a kiss every time my mouth tastes funny? Because really, Adel, that’s much better.” 

She swatted his shoulder, surprisingly gentle as she had been since they’d returned. She was worried about him, and he was too out of balance still to convince her he was fine. “Julie, stop.”

He felt the smile falter, hand lifting to stroke her cheek. He pretended not to notice the tiny increase in tension. They did a lot of pretending, lately. “You had a nightmare, Adel. I’m just being weird.”

He wanted her to tease him, wanted her to come back with something biting about his general state of weirdness. But she just tightened her arms around his neck again, keeping him close. 

The bandages couldn’t cover the worst of their injuries.


End file.
